Form

These verses form a judgment
oracle, v.1 is a call to hear, and as
in 3:1 larger than usual. This verse also begins a new section
of the book. In 4:1, however, the enlargement is less striking,
not least because the "call to hear" contains explicit
as well as implicit accusation.

Language and Imagery

v.1 The picture drawn in v.1 would have been vivid for the first hearers/readers
of Amos. Bashan was renowned for its sleek
cattle, and Samaria was the home
of Israel's king and the elite he gathered
round him.

It still is vivid in the capital cities of many countries today. The women
of the elite are sleek, well fed and groomed, and even in cultures that traditionally
give women a subordinate role their peremptory commands are heard and mimicked
by those they oppress.

The text of verses 2-3 is problematic,
but the image is clear, the survivors of military conquest are
led out from the city.

Hooks were not used to catch fish, this was done with baskets
and nets, so presumably the hooks served to land or transport
the catch. In this case, mention of "fish-hooks"
compares the remnant of proud Samaria to gaffed fish being carried
home. Contemporary Assyrian sources tell of prisoners being led
away from a fallen city by thread through the lower lip, a cruelty
to which this verse could refer.

Function

In 2:6-16 and 3:9-15 Israel and its elite have been accused
of oppression, disorder and abuse of power. Chapter 4 begins with
two oracles which show that it is the whole of the life of the
nation which is rotten, not merely some parts.

4:1-3 claims that women as much as men are culpable while (see below) 4:4-5 attacks the national religion.